Sunday Notes

Newsletter, Episode 4

Hello and welcome to this week’s Newsletter.

I hope that you are well and have had a productive week, or not, if that was the choice you made. A big thank you and a warm welcome, to my new subscribers and followers. It is so good to have you here alongside my OGs in our Substack space.

It has been a very slow week here, slow as in not out and about all that much, not slow as in lacking in productivity. I think since moving here to Somerset I have been living in my very own episode of The Good Life. I always wanted to be Felicity Kendal when I grew up, so maybe I manifested it, eventually.

Our garden features heavily this week, be it in producing an abundance of veggies or by making efforts to improve it, but let me not spoil the surprise, to misquote Shakespeare, read on Macduff

Chilli Jam

I made my first batch of chilli jam this week. It was not exactly the plan, but it is bloody fantastic, even if I do say so myself. I had intended to make chilli sauce as we go through bottles of the stuff each year. However, I overdid the cooking and rather more of the liquid evaporated than the recipe suggested, hence chilli jam was created. We have had shop-bought in the past, but don’t buy it all that often as it seems to be a ‘trendy’ item, therefore apparently warrants a price tag to match. I would describe it as XX Hot, as I was too lazy to remove most of the seeds, but that’s the way my family seem to prefer it, so a win all round.

Garden Produce

Our abundance of Pak Choi, has at last come to an end, and we are now officially in our tomato and runner bean phase. I have to say, I am not the biggest fan of runner beans, so why we planted quite so many seedlings, I do not know. I am currently using them in salads, which makes them even less palatable, in my opinion. Thankfully, we have some excellent balsamic vinegar on the go at the moment, Belazu, if you know you know, which certainly helps. It is our first year of having a kitchen garden, so we are learning as we go. Pickled runner beans as Christmas presents this year perhaps?

Baking

Staying with the Good Life theme I have returned to an old hobby of mine this week, dessert baking and I now have lemon drizzle cake and meringues sitting alongside my usual sourdough. I stopped baking when the children flew the nest, as when it’s just the two of you in the house, it can only be eaten by the two of you and my husband needs saving from himself when it comes to sugar. We shall see how this goes. We may be back to just bread baking again by this time next week.

Patio Extending

Our new-build property had a Jacobs Cream Cracker-sized patio laid when we first moved in. We have bought a number of new builds over the decades, and this has been the case in every single one of them. Why is this? Surely the patio needs to be big enough to seat the number of people the house is built for? Anyway, that is by the by. We extended it a few months ago but decided that it really should have been even bigger. It was large enough for the table and chairs when no-one was sitting in them, but if they were pulled out any further than a child under the age of 5 would require to access the chair, the legs toppled off onto the grass and, if you know South Somerset at all, you know that it is not flat. Our garden is no exception, and we are definitely on a hill, sideways, naturally! So toppling off the patio into the grass is a little bit more of an issue than it would be back in East Yorkshire, where I learned to drive, and hill starts were practiced on flyovers.

Luckily, a house near to us had decided to get the professionals in to do their patio and they were replacing all their pavers. I was there like a shot. For this read I sent my poor husband, and we are now the proud owners of an additional 10 which we have been adding all week. It’s a big job due to the slope. They need a lot of digging in or building up depending on which side they are being added. I fully understand why everyone else gets the professionals in. We always think we are younger, fitter and more skilled than we actually are. But it keeps us busy and saves us a fortune that we can fritter away on other more exciting things like cushions and of course, burns up lots of calories to help balance out the lemon drizzle!

Mother of The Groom Dress

As I mentioned last week, I am on the hunt for a dress for my elder son’s wedding next year. I know it’s early but, as I think we have all established over the past few weeks, I like a bargain and the sales are on. Additionally, I feel if I buy something this year there will be less chance of another guest turning up in the same outfit, which I keep saying would be my worst nightmare. Obviously, that is an extreme exaggeration. I am sure we would simply just laugh it off… I will, of course, purchase more than one outfit, giving me choices, so starting early is not as mad as it sounds.

Exeter proved to be very kind to me, and I am now the proud owner of option #1. It fits me like an absolute dream, so I have no room whatsoever to gain even an ounce in the next ten months, which, as a postmenopausal woman who has just started baking again, should be an absolute breeze, right? Sometimes my optimism not only astounds me but leaves me speechless. Option #2: I’m coming for you!

YouTube

I am a big YouTube fan. I watch it more than I watch TV. Not only to see like-minded people chat about random nonsense, but for home interiors inspiration, tutorials, cooking videos, you get the picture. I am a big fan. So much so, that I have been contemplating starting my own channel. I fully appreciate that watching and participating are, of course, two completely different beasts and I do worry that maybe I am a bit too much of an introvert who thrives on solitude and protects her privacy ferociously, to feel comfortable putting myself out there, so to speak. However, there is a side to my personality that really could, I feel, have thrived on a stage, if only I had managed to find the confidence to set her free. More work is needed before I go further with this, not least an upgrade in computer hardware which has the capacity to allow the downloading of software updates issued from 2020 onwards!

If anyone out there has a YT Channel, do get in touch, firstly, so that I can subscribe, but secondly, so that maybe you will allow me the opportunity to pick your brain on tips for getting started and beating stage fright.

So that’s me over and out for this week, wishing you all a lovely week ahead.

Jayne xx